Doorstep Harvest Newsletter 8-24-13
As always, try new foods with caution, and in small amounts. Also, please note that some herbs-foods may interact with pharmaceuticals so, if you use meds, please go to http://www.drugs.com/ to check them out.
News from the garden: Crensha melons will be ready the first of September! Tomatillo is creating a jungle in the garden…growing taller than me! Tomatillo is blooming profusely, setting fruit, and beginning to fill out. Sure could use some more rain. The blackberries are still producing. The seeds I planted last week don’t seem to have made it. Bummer. Have to start again. Mom pruned the tree circle at our house on cedar (plum and pear). She says there are a ton of fruiting spurs setting to bear much fruit next year if frosts don’t kill. I helped plant these trees in 2009. The broccoli plants I started from seeds in late winter and transplanted into the hoop had leaves that were eaten by bugs this spring and summer, however, their roots and plant base persevered, and with the cool summer and rain, they are putting on more leaves now, growing well, and will likely hang on long enough to see the cool of fall and season of fruit bearing… in other words, we may yet have broccoli for Thanksgiving meal in November (9 months after germination)! Kansas gardens defy all rules…Yard long beans and okra are now producing well at last. Heirloom green bean stories are below.
This week, in your Doorstep Harvest, you will find:
J Tomatoes: So far so good… production ought to continue through Novermber if we cover with a high tunnel this fall. There are a blend of heirloom, 2 lbs regular, and 2 lbs cherry blend. Many of the heirlooms are rotting on the vine but there are some spared.
J/JJ Cucumbers: Mom says that according the Traditional Chinese Medicine tradition, cucumbers nourish the water element. Organs and meridians associated with water element include Kidney and Bladder. Cucumbers specifically nourish Kidney Yin. Kidney Yin deficiency appears in the body as a grouping of symptoms that include night sweats, hot flashes, shallow sleep with frequent waking, dry stool, malar flush, mild low back &/or knee ache, thin red tongue with fissures, weak pulse on left proximal position. This pattern may accompany other complaints elsewhere in the body.
JJ Italian Broad Bean: From Johnnyseeds, “a cross between Romano and Kentucky Wonder…normally picked at 6-7”, they are still stringless at over 10”. These blanch and freeze well for winter or hold up well in canning.
JJ/JYard long bean
JJGreen Beans: These are really special pole beans. They are all heirlooms from Seed Savers Exchange: Mayflower, Lazy Housewife, Speckled Cranberry, and Cherokee Trail of Tears black beans. All four of these varieties are dual purpose producing edible sweet green beans early in the season and mature to dry bean in late fall. Here are their stories. See if you can identify each in the blend.
The Mayflower seed is named so because it is said to have actually been “brought to north America on the Mayflower by Ann Hutchinson in 1620, followed by a long history of being circulated in the Carolinas.” “This productive cut-short type has short pods packed with small square seeds. White seeds blotched with rose. Young string beans are prized for delicious flavor. Also excellent as a dry bean.”
Lazy Housewife was “introduced around 1810, this is one of our oldest documented beans. Named Lazy Housewife because it was the first snap bean that did not need to have the string removed. Vines bear heavily and continuously until frost. Straight 5-6” long pods with distinctive shiny white seeds. Pole habit. Snap or shell.”
Speckled Cranberry was “brought to America from England around 1825. Triple purpose bean. Can be used as a snap bean at around 60 days, green shell bean at around 80 days, or as a dry bean if grown to full maturity. Produces heavy crops of stringless 7-9” pods until the first frost. Pole habit.”
Cherokee Trail of Tears was “given to SSE in 1977 by the late Dr. John Wyche…of Oklahoma. Dr. Wyche’s Cherokee ancestors carried this bean over the Trail of Tears, the infamous winter death march from the Smoky Mountains to Oklahoma (1838-1839), leaving a trail of 4,000 graves. Green 6” pods with purple overlay, shiny jet black seeds. Good for snap beans and dry beans.”
JJ Zuccinni: vine borer got all the squash at Grandmas. These are from 100% organic seed called Midnight Lightning from Horizon Herbs (an organic medicinal herb seed supplier in Oregon. They have produced beautiful healthy large bushes and are grown without any insecticide at my house. These are large enough to be bakers… I like them made into boats and stuffed with seasoned ground beef.
JJ Chard
JJ Triple Crown Blackberries (11 oz)
JJOnion: So, these are smaller than we hoped but the tops are dead and so I pulled them up.
J/JJ Okra: (tonifies Kidney yin too)
JJHerb bag : J Jalapeño peppers, JJ Shisho (Perilla), JJParsley (Japanese), JJOregano (Keep in paper bag on counter to dry for future use or keep in fridge sealed for use this week), JJComfrey, JJBasil, JJLavender, JJLemon Balm
J Flower Bouquet: Strawflower, Smoke tree foliage, Hyacinth Bean Flower, Butterfly Bush Flower, Russian Sage.
J = grown in my garden in the country at Grandma (organic as much as possible) –had to use one application of 7 on squash plants this year.
JJ = 100% organically grown in my 4-H Garden in my Cedar Street home.